Caramelised fennel salad & celeriac purée amuse-bouche

I'm being very cruel, I know, but with this recipe, I just can't help remembering the great things I had planned for my parents' leaving dinner: a meal consisting entirely of amuses-bouches, almost all of them adapted from Rick Tramonto. Savoury carrot and orange crème brulées, mini lobster club sandwiches with vanilla aioli, foie gras with pineapple relish, grilled figs with mascarpone foam wrapped in prosciutto, pork medallions with an apple-rosemary chutney... I am doing my best to use up all the ingredients I bought for this feast, for on the day it was planned for, I was unable to leave my sick-bed.
One of the amuses that I did try out of Tramonto's book is the following salad of caramelised fennel, presented on a spoon of celeriac mash. I love the two vegetables for its distinct earthiness and nutty flavour, they are some of the best things you can buy in winter and would deserve being more broadly used. Apart from having a very distinct taste which might need getting used to, people just don't know how to prepare them in a tantalising way - roasting and caramelising works really well for the fennel, as does the presentation in a salad format, where the aged sherry vinegar enhances the sweetness and the oil underlines the nuttiness.
So this is it for starters. I will find an occasion soon to cook myself through the above list - I can't wait to try the recipes, my mouth is watering as we speak. Let me just make a few phone calls to find people interested in sharing this with us... it's always more fun when you've got an appreciative crowd round the table!

Caramelised fennel salad & celeriac purée amuse-bouche
(yields 6 amuses or 2 starters)

1 celeriac bulb, aka root celery (ca. 500 g)
125 ml water
100 ml double cream
1 bulb fennel
1 tbsp walnut oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp aged sherry vinegar

Peel and coarsely dice the celeriac. Put in a pot with the water and cream, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for ca. 20 minutes until tender. Discard liquid (although you could keep it as a base for a creamy sauce later on in your meal), purée and season.
For the fennel salad, discard the stems and halve horizontally. Discard core and thinly slice. Cook in the oil (you may have to do this in batches) until soft and golden brown. Season with the vinegar and pepper to taste.
Arrange some of the mash on the serving spoons (or whichever dish you're using), topping with some of the fennel salad. Best served luke-warm.

Comments

[Niki]

Perhaps we can set up a teleportal and Taste-o-vision and I can participate from down here...!

[Eileen]

great food blog. i'm an appreciative eater (albeit vegetarian).

[Roger]

could the celeriac be substituted with regular celery?

[johanna]

Hi Roger,

I would not recommend that - celery and celeriac are very different in taste (celeriac being much sweeter and mellower) and texture (celeriac contains much more starch - hence also the sweetness - and with the celery being to rich in water, you wouldn't achieve a nice puree consistency).

If you don't like celeriac, you could try using jerusalem artichokes, butternut squash or even sweet potato.
hope this helps

[David]

Hey Roger,

celery and celeriac are totally different animals.